1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a container for dispensing fluent material, including slurries, high viscosity liquids and particulate matter such as gravel, sand and dust.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solid concrete walls are made from assembling wood or metal plates to form a mould having a void that is filled with concrete. Hollow concrete walls are commonly constructed by stacking and cementing hollow concrete blocks on one another. The concrete block wall's interior surfaces can serve as a mould for wet cement that is poured into the voids and subsequently hardens to make the wall solid concrete. This is referred to as "grouting" a wall, and the concrete slurry that is poured during grouting is referred to as grout.
Solid concrete walls, however they are made, are stronger than hollow walls. Furthermore, solid walls can have reinforcing devices, such as reinforcement bars and wires, inserted in the concrete prior to curing to further strengthen them. However, grouting walls is difficult work.
Conventionally, concrete walls and other concrete structures are poured or filled by pumping wet concrete long distances through hoses from trucks, or using the "bucket and shovel" method in which buckets are hand loaded, carried and dumped into the moulds. Both of these methods have disadvantages, including expensive labor or equipment and long completion times.
Alternatively, people have used hoppers with chutes that direct concrete, but such chutes are prone to overflow if the flow of concrete is stopped at the discharge end of the chute. The use of a pump and hoses is a cumbersome process that requires starting and stopping the pump, which does not immediately stop the movement of the flowing concrete in the hose due to the concrete's inertia. A shutoff valve at the discharge end of hoses is necessary to immediately stop the flow. However, such valves are complex and normally do not last in the environment of wet concrete, even if they are cleaned, which itself is a difficult process. Concrete tends to harden on moving valve parts, eventually preventing movement and thereby rendering the valve useless.
Therefore, there is a need for a device that permits rapid, inexpensive and accurate filling of voids in block walls and other moulds. Such a device should limit the amount of spilled concrete, and permit maximum control for the person pouring the concrete.